Dr Christina Malamateniou recognised by the City community for her outstanding contributions to radiography.
By Eve Lacroix (Communications Officer), Published
City, University of London named Dr Christina Malamateniou one of its Extraordinary Women.
Nominated by the City community, she joins a list of women who study or work at City who are being celebrated for their remarkable stories of achievement.
Dr Christina Malamateniou is a researcher and academic, having previously worked clinically in radiography. She was celebrated for her outstanding contributions to the field of radiography, including pioneering an autism-friendly MRI scan, exploring the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on radiography academics and practitioners, and leading research into creating ethical artificial intelligence (AI) tools in radiology.
She is the Postgraduate Programme Director for Radiography at City, looking after both master’s and PhD programmes and leading many different research projects both nationally and internationally.
For Dr Malamateniou, supporting the next generation of radiographers is a key part of her work. She has led the national research mentoring scheme for radiographers for the past seven years, and describes this project as the one she is the most proud of working on as she is able to support those who care enough to make a difference.
Describing being named one of City's Extraordinary Women, she said:
Professor Juliet John, Vice President (Education) and Senior Diversity Ambassador for Gender, said:
Developing a human-centred approach to patient care
For Dr Malamateniou, radiography was the perfect career for her, being at the intersection of patient care and technology. “I always wanted to help others through my research,” she said. “At the same time, I am very interested in technological innovation as the catalyst for improving clinical practice.”
She studied radiography and medical imaging in Greece, her home country, and worked clinically for a few years, before moving to the UK to pursue her PhD in perinatal and neonatal MRI at Imperial College London.
The findings of her PhD felt like a eureka moment and she decided to pursue research further, landing a purely academic role at King’s College London, before joining the University of Greenwich as Associate Professor and Research Lead in its Midwifery and Nursing department.
In this role, she worked with many families and autistic children, which made her reflect on the challenges faced by autistic people when going through MRI scanners, which can cause sensory overload for patients and reduce accessibility.
She became passionate about improving experiences of medical imaging and has led pioneering research into autism-friendly MRI scans. Her recommendations are helping neurodivergent and neurotypical patients alike by making MRI scans more person-centred. She said:
Creating an ethical framework for AI in radiography
Dr Malamateniou is a strong advocate for the benefits of AI in radiography and is working to facilitate its safe and effective implementation in clinical practice. She is currently working on several projects including designing AI governance, researching the impact of AI on the career and professional identity of radiographers, providing AI education and researching AI adoption.
She has been the Chair of the AI working and advisory groups at the Society and College of Radiographers (SCoR) since 2020, and is also working with the British Standards Institute as part of a team of multidisciplinary researchers, who in April will be publishing new auditable standards for AI in healthcare. She was elected to the EusoMII board, the European Society of Radiology branch for medical imaging informatics.
Dr Malamateniou redesigned the radiography programme at City and in 2020 launched the ‘Artificial Intelligence for Radiographers’ module, which was the first of its kind in the EMEA region and attracted students from across the globe.
She sees her work in AI and radiography as the convergence of her multiple interests, bringing together technological innovations and a focus on patient-centred care. She said: